PICKET: Second NY Home Depot bomb threat tied to extortion attempt

A suspicious package was found at a New York Home Depot store on Wednesday, reported New York’s CBS News:

Elmont Home Depot workers were forced hundreds of feet away from their store and waited for police to investigate the device found at around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Debra Barrow was in a panic after being called to the store to pick up her mother, an employee.

CBS News points out that police were alerted to the threat and that a source close to the investigation says that “the pipe bomb notification came in the form of a letter with a demand for $2 million.”

Although, the Elmont Home Depot instance is the second bomb threat at a New York Home Depot this week, police are saying there is no immediate connection between this instance and a prior bomb plot that was foiled on Monday at a Huntington Station Home Depot.

New York’s NBC Newsreported the Huntington Station Home Depot bomb threat, similar to the one in Elmont, was also part of an extortion attempt:

The crude pipe bomb was left at the store on New York Avenue in Huntington as part of an extortion attempt, law enforcement sources said. A letter was also mailed there demanding money and describing where the bomb was inside the building.

The letter had been sitting for some time in the store before it was opened Monday. It stated that if the money wasn’t paid by Black Friday in November, more devices could be planted. Sources said the threat letter was mailed from Long Island.

Responding police located the pipe bomb on a shelf behind some boxes. Customer Peter Howard said he went to the store Monday to return an item and was told he couldn’t enter because of a fire drill.

“When I came back at 9:30 again, thinking the fire drill would be over, there was police tape across here and emergency vehicles over there,” he said.

Home Depot, a popular warehouse store for home improvement shoppers, has been at odds with protesters and unions for years now. Back in November of 2011 Home Depot was part of a list of retailers named as a business to occupy in front of or simply boycott on Black Friday last year. CNBC reported:

Some demonstrators are planning to occupy retailers on Black Friday to protest “the business that are in the pockets of Wall Street.”

Organizers are encouraging consumers to either occupy or boycott retailers that are publicly traded, according to the Stop Black Friday website.

The goal of the movement is to impact the profits of major corporations this holiday season.

If successful businesspeople don’t go public to share their stories and talk about their troubles, “they deserve what they’re going to get,” said Marcus, 82, a founding member of Job Creators Alliance, a Dallas-based nonprofit that develops talking points and op-ed pieces aimed at “shaping the national agenda,” according to the group’s website. He said he isn’t worried that speaking out might make him a target of protesters.“Who gives a crap about some imbecile?” Marcus said. “Are you kidding me?”

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About the Author

Kerry Picket, a former Opinion Blogger/Editor of The Watercooler, was associate producer for the Media Research Center, a content producer for Robin Quivers of “The Howard Stern Show” on Sirius satellite radio and a production assistant and copy writer at MTV.